Summer Lovin'

June 28, 2013

Blogger: Becca Patch

When I decided to stay at Oxy to work this summer, my first thought was what am I going to do with all my free time? I’m used to rushing from activity to activity, both at school and at home with my regular summer job at a local theater group. Working regular business hours all summer was going to present me with a new challenge: what to do after 5pm? What to do all weekend? Weren’t weekends created for homework?

I’m kidding about that last one. But it is true that it can be easy during the academic year to fall into a pattern of constantly stressing over work and homework (often because you’ve procrastinated a little too long).

So welcome to the summer of exploration! My friends and I have put together a summer bucket list of places we want to go, activities we want to enjoy, and food we want to experience before August 10 rolls around. I’ll try to keep you updated throughout the summer, but here’s what we’ve been up to so far:

1. New Eateries. I’m trying to find one new restaurant each week or so, instead of sticking to my favorites. Eagle Rock has some of the best restaurants I’ve ever had, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t even more fabulous ones in the greater LA area!

This week’s find is The Alcove, a bakery-bar-restaurant with outdoor, under-the-trees seating and a little red brick road the winds through the tables. Bonus: the food is fantastic.

2. Book Club. I’m very into reading, but it can be difficult to do a lot of reading for fun when you have a lot of homework reading during the school year. So my friends and I have created a weekly book club! We have five novels and a handful of short stories for the summer and have finished The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Yellow Wallpaper so far.

We read the book (duh!) and then meet to discuss. In true Oxy fashion, we all bring a little something different to the table—our group is comprised of three English & Comparative Literary Studies majors (one with a Creative Writing bent and two with Social Justice mindsets), a Sociology major, a Biology major, a Physics major, a Psychology major, two Cognitive Science majors, and a Theater major. Woo!<----This is the Americana, an outdoor mall located about ten minutes from Oxy. It’s one of my favorite places to shop, see movies, and spend time on the lawn friends! This picture is taken from the third floor of Barnes & Noble, when the book club went to browse for our next novel. :)